Climate Change Strategy of Adjara

The Climate Change Strategy of Adjara is a regional cross-sectoral strategy of Georgia’s Adjara region. Its main objective is to ensure adaptation to the climate change.
More specifically, it provides for maximal maintenance of the most vulnerable lands via reduction of anthropogenic impacts; rehabilitation of degraded (thin out) forests; changing of agricultural farming practice and transfer to sustainable management practice; planning and O&M of populated and infrastructural lands; Rehabilitation and preservation of the most vulnerable lands; Planting of new energy and soil protective trees at the territory of disappeared forests and eroded areas; Restoration of fertility of the agricultural lands lost due to erosion; Rehabilitation of the most important areas captured by the Black Sea; Rehabilitation of lost lands (captured by the sea or degraded due to avalanches, rivers and landslides); Rehabilitation of eroded areas where this is economically and socially gainful/profitable; Sustainable increase of coastal zone area for disposing new beaches and infrastructural elements; Construction and development of infrastructure, tourist and private facilities in the areas recommended by the coats protection service; carrying out risk reduction activities; Taking out preventive/protective measures for infrastructural, tourist and private sectors (their co-participation is considered); Carrying out activities on the protection of hazardous to population segments (these activities should be mainly implemented by the municipalities); Development of new tourist areas (beaches) in compliance with the sustainable development principles; Preparation of action plans taking into consideration the principles of sustainable development; Installation of modern forecasting systems for extreme geological events; Strengthening of farms through correct management of agricultural lands/soils via reduction of load on agricultural lands/soils (by using different alternative ways, e.g. by resettlement of population into the plains; utilization of sustainable lands from the geological perspective into large economies where the usage of preventive and fertility increase measures are more effective; support to creation of farmers’ unions, etc.); Support in increasing of potential of agricultural service centers and particularly to reduction of negative impacts of climate change and to increase of soils’ fertility; Permanent observation on climate change impacts (currently active warming is going on) in order to correctly assess potential of shifting agro-climatic zones and to provide appropriate recommendations to the population and farmers in order to reduce risks in case if climate change impact is revealed; Preparation of action plan on sustainable development of the agricultural sector to facilitate maximal usage of ecologically clean products in the tourism sector; Reinforcement of soil protection functions, rehabilitation of the degraded forests; Monitoring on diseases (especially on climate change related diseases) and close liaison with the forestry departments of the neighboring regions and countries in order to prevent broad expansion of these diseases; Increase of potential of forests as CO2 sinks, that implies decrease of their age and improvement of quality (density) up to the high standards; Deployment of protected areas to study/assess impacts of climate change within the frames of protected areas. This monitoring is very important for the preparation of adaptation projects, since in this case the anthropogenic factor is excluded and only climate change impact matters; During the Action Plan, preparation for protected areas the role of this sector should be highlighted in the mitigation process; Study of alternatives on privatization of forests (community forests, tourist sector forests, etc.); Preparation of Action Plan for sustainable development in forestry sector; Preparation of emission reduction plan from the waste and wastewater handling systems existing in Ajara; Initiation of pilot projects – at the old landfill in Batumi and new one in Kobuleti; arrangement of system for extraction of methane, its flaring or utilization; Arrangement of a system – for the, extraction of methane from the wastewater handling facility and its flaring or utilization as energy resource; reduction of emissions from the energy sector including by increasing the hydro-energy and wind energy share.